Vintage Broadcaster Problem

[amonte]

I installed a Vintage Broadcaster pup in my Tele tonight and I'm having a problem with the middle position, which is thin. I searched the forum and read through some posts, and I see that it is recommended that I switch the ground and hot wires on the bridge pickup. I did this and ended up with no sound from the bridge pickup at all. I rewired it as I had it the first time and it works again, but I still have the problem with the middle position.

What steps do I need to take to correct this?

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: Vintage Broadcaster Problem

Welcome to the forum! I had the exact same thing happen to me, but I switched the leads from the stock neck rather than the Broadcaster and it worked fine. I would've thought that by doing that with the bridge it would do the same thing. It's worth a try anyway.

 

[BlueGuitar]

Re: Vintage Broadcaster Problem

I installed a Vintage Broadcaster pup in my Tele tonight and I'm having a problem with the middle position, which is thin. I searched the forum and read through some posts, and I see that it is recommended that I switch the ground and hot wires on the bridge pickup. I did this and ended up with no sound from the bridge pickup at all...

In switching the wires going to the bridge pickup I think that you ended up grounding out the hot lead. The broadcaster has a metal plate on the bottom of the pickup which needs to be connected to ground (there may be a separate ground wire going to the bridge which establishes the ground).

It might be easier to reverse the wires at the neck pickup (which presumably has a metal cover). You need to make sure that the metal cover is connected to ground and not the hot signal lead.

BTW we are assuming that the thin sound you mentioned is from the two pickups being out of phase.

 

[amonte]

Re: Vintage Broadcaster Problem

In switching the wires going to the bridge pickup I think that you ended up grounding out the hot lead. The broadcaster has a metal plate on the bottom of the pickup which needs to be connected to ground (there may be a separate ground wire going to the bridge which establishes the ground).

It might be easier to reverse the wires at the neck pickup (which presumably has a metal cover). You need to make sure that the metal cover is connected to ground and not the hot signal lead.

BTW we are assuming that the thin sound you mentioned is from the two pickups being out of phase.

Ok, so it sounds like what I need to do is take the exact same steps I took for the bridge - specifically, find where the neck's hot lead connects to the switch and swap it with where the neck's ground is connected (to ground). The only additional step is that I need to connect the metal cover to the "new" ground (which is the old hot lead). I'm not exactly sure how to do this, since I haven't taken a look at the neck pickup yet. Can I do this without removing the strings or the pickguard?

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: Vintage Broadcaster Problem

Ok, so it sounds like what I need to do is take the exact same steps I took for the bridge - specifically, find where the neck's hot lead connects to the switch and swap it with where the neck's ground is connected (to ground). The only additional step is that I need to connect the metal cover to the "new" ground (which is the old hot lead). I'm not exactly sure how to do this, since I haven't taken a look at the neck pickup yet. Can I do this without removing the strings or the pickguard?

You can do all of this by pulling the control cover, you don't need to remove the strings or pickguard. There are only 2 wires going to the neck just swap them at the switch and the ground.

 

[amonte]

Re: Vintage Broadcaster Problem

You can do all of this by pulling the control cover, you don't need to remove the strings or pickguard. There are only 2 wires going to the neck just swap them at the switch and the ground.

Thanks for the reply, JumpMarine! But if I do that won't the pickup cover still be connected to the hot lead? Or maybe I'm missing something here. I'll give it a shot.